Chaffee, a new way to play?

Right we all agree that the M-24's second turret looks ghastly, but we need it for the 76mm*.

But do we need the 76mm? Historically the 75mm on the Chaffee was an aircraft weapon designed to fire HE. So that got me thinking. If we're top tier then the huge penetration of the 76mm is fairly irrelevant, as the AP from the 75mm will have just as much effect, due to the lower enemy armour values.

If we're in the bottom of the team line up, then we'll be using HE anyway, and the HE round from the 75mm is almost identical to the 76mm's HE round. The First turret also has a higher traverse speed. Between the two guns accuracy is about the same time, but the 75mm has a lower Aim time.

SO could we get away with stock turret and gun, just to look cooler, and have a lower profile?

CuP1D is right. Additionally with ugly turret you get bigger view range, ROF slightly better accuracy and more HP. Destroying Loewe with 76 is surely doable (in proper conditions), with 75... well, I didn't test it but surely it would be much harder. Chaffee ain't scout, so best possible gun is quite vital.

File swopping will not effect the game mechanics m8 - client side only is my understanding

Ok what happens in this scenario:

You swap the files, There's an M-24 hull down as a target. Does it maintain the normal hit area? IE large turret over the top of hte obstruction, and the gun auto ranges, or will it get the lower turret and hit zones and so your gun fires at range Infinity.

CuP1D is right. Additionally with ugly turret you get bigger view range, ROF slightly better accuracy and more HP. Destroying Loewe with 76 is surely doable (in proper conditions), with 75... well, I didn't test it but surely it would be much harder. Chaffee ain't scout, so best possible gun is quite vital.

Really? I thought with it's viewrange and camo values it makes for perfect bush scout. What else is it meant to do in high tier matches anyway? Or do you view scouting and spotting as two differnet disciplines?

I'm gonna be getting one soon and just assumed it would be my job to light up the enemy to give my team something to shoot at, and also to give an impression of what the enemy team is gonna do.

To OP: Same thing with PzIV for me. I prefer the look of stock turret and second best gun, but Darth Vader turret and L70 are essential if you want to get best out of tank - shame really. I'd imagine it'd be the same for Chaffee.
If it bothers you that much then do the file-swapping thingy - if asthetics mean that much to you. Better yet you could find your own special way of playing the tank with setup you described and still remain effective - more power to you if that's the case. I guess everyone has their preferences, not everyone needs/wants to elite every single tank.

Chaffee's top gun, coupled with the tanks' mobility, allows it to penetrate a lot of the top tiers from the sides/rear. HE is just not worth it.

For "lower tiers" the worse gun isn't that good - the "irrelevant" penetration diffrence is 40mm(!).
That's the diffrence between dinging a KVs front, or penetrating it even from an angle.
It also has slightly lower DPM and accuracy (bit better aiming time though).
And will give you trouble with high tier artillery, when the top gun is boss.

With top gun and good timing and driving skill it was no problem to pick off some tanks, even in tier X battles.

Then came the French lights and instantly all tier V lights of other nations became obsolete.
But still I liked to play the Chaffee a lot.

But after 7.2 it became absolutely useless.
Each and every time I circle a lone high tier low HP tank I die.
Of course not all my shots penetrate but those who get through are over half 0 crits or disappear in spaced armour. This gives the enemy enough time to kill me.
Sniping at long range also does nothing anymore. Only 0 crits.

Yes its supposed to be a scout and if possible I prefer to scout with it.
But half the maps are so small that when you scout friendly tanks see them them selves so no XP earned. On city maps ther simply is no scouting.
It should be a forward observer. That role is impossible on over half the maps.

Right we all agree that the M-24's second turret looks ghastly, but we need it for the 76mm*.

But do we need the 76mm? Historically the 75mm on the Chaffee was an aircraft weapon designed to fire HE. So that got me thinking. If we're top tier then the huge penetration of the 76mm is fairly irrelevant, as the AP from the 75mm will have just as much effect, due to the lower enemy armour values.

If we're in the bottom of the team line up, then we'll be using HE anyway, and the HE round from the 75mm is almost identical to the 76mm's HE round. The First turret also has a higher traverse speed. Between the two guns accuracy is about the same time, but the 75mm has a lower Aim time.

SO could we get away with stock turret and gun, just to look cooler, and have a lower profile?

*I am aware of file swapping to solve the problem.

A new way to play, thinking about HE shells, aim time, higher traverse speed and at last to look cooler?!
I know you are just sharing your thoughts.

1. The line up in team rooster does not matter at all to be sucessfull with this vehicle
2. The turret/gun choice criteria are: penetration, RoF and damage, hence 76 mm. Suggested ammo loadout, 5x HE (for the French LT), 3x APCR (for kill or loose the battle situations), rest AP
3. Aim time, you either sit in bushes and don't shoot or you move and fight, hence aim time has no relevance at all.
4. Traverse speed: use 100 octane gasoline
5. The turret does not make you look cool at all, good scouting, some kills and positve feedback from your PPL are cool! BTW, I always keep an eye on the enemy only!

The question.
I have noticed, that the accuracy of mobile shotting of Chaffee is phenomenal. Usually, I hit 3/4 shots on the move. Running full speed, turning, flanking and barraging the enemy.
Can you do it with 1st turret and 75 mm gun?
This is not about officially stated numbers, but how it works in the field.
My friend, who is master of Chaffee, usually ends up with 3-6 kills in one battle. My skills with Chaffee are minor, but even with that, I would never think about changing ugly turret for worse one.

I run the stock turret a lot, but that's namely because my Grandfather use to drive a Chaffee.

The 75mm is actually not that bad, but you have to know your targets and the week spots. The 76mm is the better gun by far, no question about that. The 75mm isn't worthless however and if you got good with using the dinky 75mm on the M5 you can use it to great effect.

I circled a T34 this morning in my chaffee using the 75mm and took it down 60% before an arty stole my kill. I've also done solid damage on Tiger 2's, T59's, IS3's, Pershings, and Panther II's. But you really take a loss using it and the stock turret.

The gun is not as big a loss admittedly in T9 and T10 games since even with the 76mm you are not going to be able to do much even on weak spots, but losing the 40~ view range is crippling. Most of those high tier mediums and heavies have a base 380-420 view range. If you run stock without any addons your view range is 367. Which means they'll spot you before you spot them, and thats death in a Chaffee.

You need that second turret and then bioptics or coated optics to give you that 440 or 500 for passive scouting.

The stock Chaffee is a good T5 tank. It does well against T5's-T7's and some T8's. But the problem is your MM puts you as a T7 which means that you see a lot of T7-T10's. Without the view ranged and pen that the upgrade turret and gun provide your simply massively out classed.

If you want to try to get good with the 75mm if your going to be getting a chaffee pretty soon, I recommend getting an M8A1. The end 75mm on it is very similar to the chaffees when it comes to gun pen and accuracy. You'll also fight T6's and T7's on the M8 which lets you pratice on the weak spots. The TD is not that expensive and it's a good credit earner.

If you want to try to get good with the 75mm if your going to be getting a chaffee pretty soon, I recommend getting an M8A1. The end 75mm on it is very similar to the chaffees when it comes to gun pen and accuracy. You'll also fight T6's and T7's on the M8 which lets you pratice on the weak spots. The TD is not that expensive and it's a good credit earner.

A very pleasent vehicle this M8A1, finally a "ninja M5 Steward " with punch.